Tuesday 1 September 2015

Olive Downs to Marianna Waterhole (Cordillo Road, east of Cordillo Downs Station)

Up before sunrise, washed, dressed and breakfasted and would have been on the road before 8 if we hadn’t discovered a soft looking rear tyre. Once again total strangers to the rescue with an electric pump. We get the tyre pressure back up, and drive gingerly onward through the Warry Gate towards Innamincka. We keep stopping and checking the tyre, which looks OK, but once we get on the sealed road of the Adventure Highway, the tyre goes completely. We change the wheel, and drive on to Innamincka on the spare (fortunately a good tyre). In Innamincka we discover that none of the people who might be able to fix a tyre are available. We buy a tyre pump, refuel, and  eat a late burger lunch at the pub, where we also deliver a box of books.
Now we have a difficult decision. If we follow the route in the book as planned we will go via the Walkers Crossing Track and the Birdsville track. We don’t know the state of the former, and we’ll be travelling without a spare tyre. And with the Birdsville Races this weekend, the Birdsville Track will be like the Southeastern Freeway on Friday afternoon. We decide to take the Cordillo Road instead, as we hear it is in good condition. And it is, we drive comfortably and without incident to the Marianna Waterhole, where we decide to camp for the night. It is now cloudy and quite muggy, so we are almost too hot and sleep with all the air vents open.

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